About 200 start-up founders and employees housed at the T-Hub incubator here gathered on Tuesday to have a tête-à-tête with Travis Kalanick, founder and CEO of Uber Technologies.
One wanted to know how Uber is able to form aggressive teams in different geographies; another questioned him on the challenges he faceswhile hitting newer markets. Kalanick had short but crisp answers for all queries. Having lots of great ideas is one thing. “(But) You need to tether those ideas to reality. You need to have an analytical mindset to make them a reality,” he said.
Taking the plungeWhen a start-up founder asked how he goes global, Travis said it is all about taking the plunge. “When you want to go global, just do it. You need to do it. When people say it is difficult, it is complicated; you simply go ahead and do it. It all depends on how quickly you go,” he advised.
The 40-year-old-entrepreneur said he keeps an eye out for people with entrepreneurial mindset to take them on board. It can be frustrating at times in the entrepreneurial journey, he said.
Kalanick, who was here in connection with the launch of UberMOTO, a two-wheeler hailing service, spent about 90 minutes at the incubator. The MOTO feature will be included in the Uber app next month. Hyderabad becomes the third city after Bengaluru and Gurgaon to have the service.
The Uber CEO met Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao in the morning.
Uber also signed an agreement with the Hyderabad Metro Rail to provide last-mile connectivity to metro commuters.
After having a peek view of the T-Hub, Kalanick spent about 30 minutes with various start-ups. He advised the ventures to be agile with their products, leaving no scope for complacency. If you create demand, supply will automatically fall into place, he said.
It is important to create a story around a product/service in order to make it attractive to customers. One must always keep innovating, and take an objective view of where one stands, he said.